History
'History' We the keepers of the pancreator’s grace write this treatise to lend the Celestial Light to the vagaries and lies of time and forgetfulness so that what was once hidden can be uncovered and brought into the church’s light. May the pancreator forgive us for any inaccuracies that we may write and smite us for any heathenism we may utter. 'Relics of Distant Stars' It is said that in the ancient times before man walked the stars we had already become aware that we were not the only sentient beings amongst the stars. Relics of distant people and places bespoke of intelligent cephalopods and their war with what we now know to be the horrifying and ungodly Symbiot. It is through these relics that the children of Errovus first found their way to the stars. In that ancient and godless time, two people uncovered the secrets of the stars, one the amphibian Kappa and the other the gnomes of Halluchuirp. While the gnomes were quick to apply the technology to their industrial engine and learn new technologies, the Kappa sought the source of the ancient relics and thus, these were the first to find the stars. The Kappa began a great exodus from Errovus and just as the last of them left aboard their dark sky-ships for lands unknown, Errovus was torn asunder by the Soul Wars. 'Soul Wars' Across Errovus the nations of that time (who’s names are lost to history) fought a great war that invoked the powers of both the cold space between stars, what they wrongfully referred to as hell, and the goodly forces of Celestial Light (which we now know to be the Pancreator’s light). Ultimately the war was destructive for much of the world and because it was fought with mystical energies, and much of the war’s goals were to deprive the enemy of the ‘mana’ that was used to fuel their war engines, it soon deprived Errovus of its mystic mana lines and sources of magick. When the smoke cleared, what was left was a depopulated world that relied more and more upon the creations of the gnomes. The soul wars had re-written national boundaries; some nations, such as the mysterious Sidar or the Syrii simply no longer existed after these wars. It is said that the Sidar removed themselves completely from the world of men whereas the Syrii are said to have been the targets of organized genocide. In the wake of these wars the centuries passed and the nations of our Holy Mother planet squabbled no longer over magicks and soul but over resources like coal and oil, ah’luminm and ore. A great world-engulfing war had just broken out anew over these resources when a multi-national ‘corporation’, a group of men and women united in their quest for coin in the same way as modern guilds, saved Errovus from certain destruction. They had managed to acquire data from the ancient relics and find their own way to reach the orbiting jumpgate. And so, humanity approached a new crossroads. 'The Jumpgate' The Zaibutsu corporation, as it was known, launched a mission to find ways to use the jumpgate as the last Kappa who had left several hundred years ago had already done. Their investigations took three months but finally a means of activating the gate was uncovered and the portal began to swirl with milky multicolored light. Within a matter of days a probe was fired through the gate programmed to collect data on the number, size and composition of the planets in the new system. The probe was instantly destroyed. Data from the explosion was analyzed and the conclusion was reached that any matter unprotected from the energies surrounding the gate would share the fate of the probe. A device now called a Jump-engine was designed to maintain matter integrity. This was fitted to the next probe which managed to pass through unscathed to report back on what lay on the other side of the gate. Its report was better than anyone had hoped for: a habitable world. Immediately the world held its breath in anticipation and any threat of a newly renewed resource war was put on hold. 'Errovus Secondus' The first exporation crew was watched by billions as their ship passed through the Jumpgate. The new world had no sentient life but was rich in edible plant-life and mineral resources. It seemed too good to be true. Astronomers had for several decades described galaxy after galaxy devoid of water, let alone a habitable planet or vegetable or animal life. The explorers named it Errovus Secondus. Soon the exodus began and in the halls of power the megacorporations and governments a fierce cold-war erupted over control of the planet’s colonization and more importantly resources. Even as the cold-war claimed hundreds of lives and entire corporations, the first colonists discovered new evidence of the ancient long-forgotten people known as the Kappa. Infidel temples were found in clear shallow lakes and these held strange devices and materials, often decorated with what could only be an descendent of the Kappa alphabet. Unfortunately the writings proved beyond the capacity of men of the age to translate. Otherwise we might have been warned of what lay beyond. 'The Diaspora' Continuous study of the Jumpgate revealed that alterations the Jump-engine fields (what we now term the ‘jump coordinates) could alter the destination reached by passing through the gate, this opened up routes to yet more stars. As the multinational corporations and continental governments continued to fight among themselves a rebel faction managed to seize the designs for the new Jump-engines and the Diaspora began. With travel to uncharted worlds open to any group who could obtain a ship, millions swarmed away from the oppression of the great corporations. These people colonized new worlds that did not recognize the rule of the corporations or governments who were now too obsessed with their internal struggles to recognize the new colonies for the threat they represented. Some of these colonies failed almost immediately, their pleas for aid ignored by Errovus; they sank into barbarism. Others suffered from lack of resources but rallied around a strong leader who managed to hold them together in a state of semi-feudalism. A few colonies found untouched riches on their worlds allowing them to form mini-mercantile empires of their own with enough resources to seize corporate resources here and there, slowly whittling them down bit by bit. Eventually Errovus was reduced to but one state among many, its lack of resources combined with its high population and bureaucratic government placing it in a poor position compared to the resource-rich colony worlds ruled by autocratic rulers. Errovus settled into a long depression and with the loss of Errovus as a centre-point there seemed to be a loss of ingenuity; humanity still possessed technology, but it no longer experimented. Science was something that the scholars learnt by rote, no longer understanding what they did merely fulfilling the orders of their patrons. While governments and corporations, new planets and old fought amongst themselves, gnomish merchants and engineers, the descendants of the Halluchuirp began to collect those technologies that would allow travel between jumpgates, enable weapons of mass destruction or otherwise present a major change in the balance of power. They went about this process quietly, often paying for the secrets of various technologies with dead-end techs of their own. Ultimately, they made their move, an effort to unify humanity. 'The Grand Republic' On the first day of the year 1500, after nearly a century of patient planning, the Halluchuirp, later to be known as the league, made their move, simultaneously presenting the rulers and people of every human Kingdom with the announcement of a new democratic council for Unified Species Space on Errovus Secondus. Those Kingdoms which refused to take part would be quarantined until such time as they reconsidered. Many Kingdoms did of course refuse membership, but the withdrawal by the League of virtually the entire economic infrastructure brought about the fall of any such autocratic regime. The new democratic human republic brought about a new era of freedom and free flow of information. Under this new order science and technology strode forwards. With the vast resources of the united human worlds and a unity of purpose nothing was impossible, anything could be achieved. Genetic engineering cured diseases that had plagued humanity for millions of years, terraforming opened new worlds for colonization, the sum of human knowledge was pooled into a vast computer network called The Map that spanned Human Space. Information was sought out by AI 'agents' whose services were available to all citizens of the Grand Republic. Danger and oppression were now the myths of a bygone era to be read about by scholars and thrill-seekers, things that did not happen in the 'real' world. The utopia carried the seeds of its own destruction. Most new technology displaced workers, and soon there was little need for work. The economy did not keep up with these changes and the welfare system, though grand was not build to uphold the sheer number of unemployed who had lost their livelihoods because of the new technology. Unemployment led to dissatisfaction with the government of the Republic and in 1978AD an unknown anarchist group managed to shutdown the Map. Anarchy exploded as the welfare system ground to a halt and citizens were denied money. Riots began on all the worlds of the Grand Republic. 'Divesture' The regimes of hundreds of petty planetary governments and cult faiths saw their chance. Many had long histories and cultural identities that united their people in complex webs of loyalty and servitude. Some were based on ancient cultures such as the Hippus and Bannor, others on multinational corporations which had been stripped of their mercantile and political power by the league, still others by newly formed outer-planet governments. Taking the tittles of noble houses, they made their own move. After the installation of the new republic the nobles had been reduced to a largely ceremonial role; bought off by huge payments and the right to chair planetary parliaments. Now the noble houses saw their chance. They began orchestrating deals with the overstretched central government on Errovus Secodus, requesting and being granted emergency powers to crush riots and collect taxes; all the time failing to hand out welfare money even after the Map was restored to full working order. This time became known as the Divestiture for as the Grand Republic granted the nobles more power it lost more and more control over the bureaucratic beast the government had become. Finally, massive corruption in central government combined with the increased tax burden caused outlying worlds to secede from the Republic. These Rogue Worlds now firmly under the control of noble families, were too powerful for the weakened Republic to put down; the Republic was forced to deal with them on their own terms. Then the stars began to fade. Only after three stars with populated planets noticeably dimmed in 1995AD did people realise that the Fading Suns phenomenon was not just a fluke. Many people had their own explanations: "It's some sort of League weapon.", "It's the fusion generators, they're not safe, their draining the Suns' power!", "It's a government conspiracy!" were all common cries from the beaten people of the Republic and Rouge Worlds. We of the Universal Church began to preach, explaining that our patriarch Barbatos the undying had spoken of this danger over a thousand years before. Humans were sinful and bad, in their pride they had overreached themselves. Thankfully the people of the worlds saw the truth of our words. Rightfully, the irk of the people was redirected to the major governments of the worlds and of the grand republic in particular. During the rise of the Grand Republic the Church had split into numerous factions and denominations. In a bid to recapture support the High Crafter of the Republic made a deal with the patriarch Barbatos. In return for the Church's open support of central government, the Republic would declare the Orthodox Church to be the official and only recognized sect of the Universal Church. This, combined with pre-millennial paranoia inevitably sparked off religious wars plunging the Republic into civil war in 1999AD as each world supported one or another faction in the conflict. As the chaos reached it's height the rulers of the ten most powerful Rouge Worlds banded together and launched a united fleet which swept through the shattered Republic, taking Errovus Secondus by surprise and the fleet crushed the token resistance of the Republican Guard. As the smoke cleared in the Presidential Palace the Ten Noble Houses raised their own banners. The fall of the Republic was complete. 'Symbiots' Even as the world was united by new leadership, an ship of elves, descendents of the long-ago White Mist nation found a new jumpgate and in its readiness to discover new worlds and new resources, breached the barrier to the worlds that for so long had housed the Symbiot menace. Once, long ago the Symbiots had pursued the aquatic cephalopod race that our star-travel had come from to our world. And now the ancient evil had been awakened anew. The elves and their fleet was overrun- only a few ships managed to flee before their wrath. World after world fell to these fell creatures and their biological-based weaponry and technology. The guns and missiles, lasers and fusion weapons of the Grand Republic could not stand before them and as the Symbiots advanced, they parasitized and converted human, gnome, orc and elf alike, turning them into their fanatic soldiers. When their giant bee-ships first arrived at Errevus Secondus we thought that we would be forever destroyed, our bones to snapped and chewed, our minds defiled and claimed. The enemy was intelligent, striking quickly and silently at our missile siloes, our command and control computers, our refineries and factories. Through a long war of attrition where many of the enemy fell only to be replaced by our own parasitized soldiers we were reduced to fighting with primatives weapons; even ballistae and catapult were called upon. Certainly we would be overrun. But it was not to be. We soon learned that the magics that had been forgotten so long, the ancient secrets of the Holy Church (and the library of Amur) proved exceptionally potent weapons against these aggressors and one by one the enemy was beaten back from many planets. But once again the enemy adapted. By striking at our magickers and holy men in precision subterfuges, we were greatly reduced anew. Finally when we had managed to reclaim and clear only a handful of the 100s of worlds we had known during the Grand Republic we were visited by an unexpected neighbour. The Kappa had returned. 'The Transcendantals' The Kappa no longer carried swamp water in their skullbowls but translucent and multicolored light similar to that of an active jumpgate. They had changed so greatly (speaking not with their voice but their minds) that the common people soon came to name them Transcendentals. Their ships were strange contraptions without seemingly a fuel-based engine or functional jumpgate protection. Their great and terrible power could perhaps have been applied to fighting the Symbiots but instead they applied it to another task; in 2178, they sealed the jumpgates at the edges of our cleared planets. The heathen amphibians had saved us but they had also imprisoned us. It is said that the Kappa are the source of the scepters and that orinally they had only been intended to be used to assist in maintaining communication throughout the known worlds, to prevent us from descending into complete anarchy. Perhaps they had seen what lay ahead. As quickly as they had come, they were gone. 'Aftermath and Isolation' After nearly a century and a half of prolonged battle for mere survival with the body and mind-claiming Symbiots, the remaining worlds were but six in number. Many worlds were ‘lost’, fallen back to primitive levels; their major industrial and communication centres destroyed and their fleets wiped out. Neighboring worlds a mere jumpgate apart could not share information nor trade. Even as the worlds struggled to reform the League began an organized effort to collect and claim any remaining technology. Though they claimed the effort was benign we of the church knew better and soon afterwards began our own efforts to claim the ancient relics of technology and power. It didn’t take long for the noble houses to begin the same process and within a generation the worlds were again split asunder by war in an effort to reclaim what little technology they could. As the nobles houses fought and struggled the ten major houses were reduced to nine, then eight, then seven, then six, and finally the five we know of today. The nobles had largely controlled the scepters, many seeing them as a symbol of their power but in the chaos of the wars, so many were lost and it became increasingly difficult to communicate between the worlds. In the ensuing confusion the league and the elves were both able to reclaim jump coordinates to distant planets. The league was the first and managed to open a path to a planet that had been decimated by the wars but fortunately cleared of any symbiot life; they claimed the planet for their own and renamed it Leagueheim. It became the defacto headquarters of the gnomish league of guilds. The elves however, managed to open a gate to the symbiot-infested world of Stigmata. Immediatley the symbiots sought to return to our worlds. It was the year 2242. The people and governments called upon the Transcendants to return but alas the calls fell upon deaf ears. In desperation the noble houses banded together with the church and the league to form a united front against the threat and the ‘Garrison’ was created. Their unity and cooperation led to the formation of the ‘regency’ and the throne of the grand Emperor. 'The Emperor and the Regency' Immediately upon his declaration as Emperor, Vladimir the great issued the Great Charter setting forth the new constitution. The Emperor was autocratic, his word was law and all must obey him or die. A select few of the elite of the Houses Church and League could vote on his successor. These Electors were issued with one of the scepters as proof of office- many noble houses such as the Eekin forced to give up their scepters to strike a balance that would promote peace between the houses.. A great coronation ceremony was held on Errovus Secundus when Vladimir arrived to take the throne. As he placed the crown upon his head, fire erupted from his eyes and he fell dead on the floor, years of hard won victory gone at the hands of an unknown assassin. 'Timeline' Year 1: First jump through a Gate. Around 1100: Barbatos appointed Patriarch of the Church of Universal Light 1500: Founding of the Grand Republic 1978: shutdown of the Map by unknown anarchists 1995: Mankind realises that the Suns are Fading. 1999: Fall of the Republic 2178: Transcendental Kappas seal the Known Worlds from Symbiots. Sceptres appear around this time. 2242: The accursed and evil Evvis open a gate to the Symbiot-infested world of Stigmata. (shortly afterwards?) : Empire founded. 2300: Vladimir Eekin crowned and assassinated by an unknown criminal. Current times (the NES) begin 2301: Dain Kawalen of House Klorin elected regent. 2304: Archibald Tarsenusis of House holy Gate elected regent. 2305: Ludenard Akatas appointed Regent. 2306: Church Declares Crusade Against the Evvis